YALSA announces 2025 Alex Awards

PHOENIX — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has selected 10 adult books with special appeal to teen readers to receive the 2025 Alex Awards. The awards, sponsored by the Margaret A. Edwards Trust and Booklist, were announced today during the ALA’s LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience held January 24 – 27 in Phoenix.

Here are the 2025 Alex Award winners:

• “Beautiful People: My Thirteen Truths About Disability,” by Melissa Blake, published by Hachette Go, an imprint of Hachette Books
• “Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined,” by David F. Walker, illustrated by Marcus Kwame Anderson, published by Ten Speed Graphic, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House
• “Daughters of Shandong,” by Eve J. Chung, published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House
• “The Dead Cat Tail Assassins,” by P. Djèlí Clark, published by Tordotcom, an imprint of Tor Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan
• “How to Solve Your Own Murder: A Novel,” by Kristen Perrin, published by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House
• “I Feel Awful, Thanks,” by Lara Pickle, published by Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group
• “I Was a Teenage Slasher,” by Stephen Graham Jones, published by Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
• “The Witch of Colchis,” by Rosie Hewlett, published by Sourcebooks Landmark, an imprint of Sourcebooks
• “The Witchstone,” by Henry H. Neff, published by Blackstone Publishing
• “Woman, Life, Freedom,” created by Marjane Satrapi, translated by Una Dimitrijević, published by Seven Stories Press

“I’m thankful for a team that brought unique perspectives and no fear of championing something we might have overlooked as we created this list,” said 2025 Alex Awards Committee Chair Catherine Andronik.

The Alex Awards were created to recognize that many teens enjoy and often prefer books written for adults, and to assist librarians in recommending adult books that appeal to teens. A full list of official nominations will be available online at www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/alex.

The award is named in honor of the late Margaret Alexander Edwards, fondly called “Alex” by her closest friends, a pioneer in providing library services to young adults. At Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Edwards used adult books extensively with teens to broaden their experience and enrich their understanding of themselves and their world.

Members of the 2025 Alex Awards Committee are: Chair Catherine M. Andronik, Norwalk Public Library, Connecticut; Brigid Burns, Wake County Public Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina; Lisa Castellano, Norfolk Collegiate Upper and Middle School, Virginia; Laura Erwin, Upper Arlington Public Library, Ohio; Sheila E. Michaels, BookBag Program Director, Nixa, Missouri; Susen Shi, The New York Public Library, New York; Gretchen Wallett, Calumet City Public Library, Illinois; Gail Zachariah, Whiting Library, Chester, Vermont.

About the American Library Association

The American Library Association (ALA) is the only non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated entirely to America's libraries and library professionals. For almost 150 years, ALA has provided resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. The ALA serves academic, public, school, government, and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library's role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit www.ala.org

About the Young Adult Library Services to Children

The mission of YALSA is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources, go to www.ala.org/yalsa or contact the YALSA office at e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.

For information on the Alex Awards and other ALA Youth Media Awards, please visit www.ala.org/yma.

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